Monday, September 29, 2014

Take a step back and review - 30 Lessons in Blogging

This month of blogging posts has taught me a lot about what I've learned; what I am and am not doing; and what I plan to do from now on.

Taking the time to work through and write down what I've learned in a methodical way has helped me understand it even more and put it all into perspective.

I've said before that I believe you need to be constantly learning to keep growing. I also believe that you have to also step back and try to reassess what is and isn't important for you now, what is and isn't working and what needs to change.

What I've learned

Throughout September I have posted twice every day on my blog. This is more than I've ever done before. I did it for myself .

My morning posts are part of my 100 day "Use What You've Got" challenge to make the most of my fabric and crafting stash, and also other areas of my life - my kids, the area we live in, recipes, kitchen gadgets, games etc. This has pushed me to take action every day and has helped to get me into good habits which I will certainly continue (although not need the commitment of a daily post on my blog to keep me accoutable!).

My evening posts have been all about blogging. This was a way to bring together and reflect upon what I've learned in 4 years of blogging. And to share that knowledge in the hope it might help others.

More posts doesn't mean more pageviews

Despite posting a lot more than usual, this has not resulted in any more traffic to my blog than usual. I'm not really surprised by this, I saw a few months ago when I almost stopped blogging that my stats didn't change much. It's also a relief in a way as getting 2 posts out every day is quite a challenge at times! Knowing that posting more often isn't what is going to grow my blog means I can spend my time more usefully elsewhere.

Learning from the statistics

I've learned that when you look at your blog stats isn't not just about page views and big numbers. It's about understanding what the numbers mean and figuring out how you can use that knowledge to grow the numbers yourself!

From what I've learned from my stats, I'm going to spend less time trying to create more content for my blog, and more time promoting the content I already have - largely through Pinterest and Google +, as I grow my community too.

Making money

From learning more about Google Adsense, I now understand what I'm looking at when I look at my stats regarding the income I'm earning on my blogs. This has shown me that my logical step is to work more on my other two blogs (Be Our Best and A Fitter and Healthier Me ) which although small now, appear to have more potential Google Adsense income than this blog!

I've also decided that I do need to have some kind of product to sell. Be this real creations I sew, or e-books I write. Sales is something I've always shied away from, but it's time to get over this fear and learn!

How about you?

Have you taken a step back to reassess your blog lately?

What have you learned from your time blogging and how can you use this knowledge to improve and grow your blog now?

4 comments:

Just wanted to say thanks again for these posts about blogging. Unfortunately I have missed quite a few of them so I will have to come back a few times to catch up. Best of luck to you with all your blogging endeavors.

Thanks so much for all the great tips Jill. I was all set recently to make the big jump over to Wordpress because I've been getting fewer and fewer visitors but in the end I decided that's not why I started my blog in the first place. I let go of the expectation that bigger is better so I can get sponsors. I want to go back to just having fun and being grateful even if I only reach and inspire a handful of people. I know that wasn't the intent of your series but it made me realize that I don't have time to pay attention to so many little moving pieces.

Thanks Tamara! I think the most important thing about blogging is that you enjoy it. For me, I would love for my blog to be a viable 'job' with a decent income, but if it does so at the expense of my enjoyment, then that kind of takes away the point!! Good luck with your continued fun blogging!

Facebook again

Disclaimer

Anyone who is reading this blog is doing so of their own free will, and any information you take from this blog, you do so at your own risk.
Unless otherwise noted, I am the legal copyright holder of the material on this blog and it may not be used, reprinted, or published without my written consent.
The information provided on this blog is for entertainment purposes only. I am not providing medical, legal or other professional advice. Anyone reading and /or using any of the information gleaned from this blog does so at their own risk.
I will not put any readers on spam lists, nor sell contact information to another company. I am however not responsible for the privacy practices of your advertisers or blog commenters.
I reserve the right to change the focus of my blog, to shut it down, to sell it, or to change the terms of use (go to a paid platform) at my own discretion.
I am not responsible for the actions of my advertisers or sponsors. If a reader purchases a product or service based upon a link from this blog, the reader must take action with that company to resolve the issue, not me.
Any e-mails that have been written directly to me will remain confidential and only be shared on this blog if the author gives their permission.

Privacy Policy for Creating my way to Success

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at Privacy.

At http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ we consider the privacy of our visitors to be extremely important. This privacy policy document describes in detail the types of personal information is collected and recorded by http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ and how we use it.

Log Files Like many other Web sites, http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ makes use of log files. These files merely logs visitors to the site - usually a standard procedure for hosting companies and a part of hosting services's analytics. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. This information is used to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beaconshttp://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ uses cookies to store information about visitors' preferences, to record user-specific information on which pages the site visitor accesses or visits, and to personalize or customize our web page content based upon visitors' browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.

DoubleClick DART Cookie
→ Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/.
→ Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our site's visitors based upon their visit to http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ and other sites on the Internet.
→ Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Our Advertising Partners
Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include .......

Google

Book Depository

While each of these advertising partners has their own Privacy Policy for their site, an updated and hyperlinked resource is maintained here: Privacy Policies.
You may consult this listing to find the privacy policy for each of the advertising partners of http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/.

These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology in their respective advertisements and links that appear on http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ and which are sent directly to your browser. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons) may also be used by our site's third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns and/or to personalize the advertising content that you see on the site.

http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

Third Party Privacy Policies
You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/'s privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites. You may find a comprehensive listing of these privacy policies and their links here: Privacy Policy Links.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites. What Are Cookies?

Children's InformationWe believe it is important to provide added protection for children online. We encourage parents and guardians to spend time online with their children to observe, participate in and/or monitor and guide their online activity.
http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If a parent or guardian believes that http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/ has in its database the personally-identifiable information of a child under the age of 13, please contact us immediately (using the contact in the first paragraph) and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

Online Privacy Policy Only
This privacy policy applies only to our online activities and is valid for visitors to our website and regarding information shared and/or collected there.
This policy does not apply to any information collected offline or via channels other than this website.

Consent
By using our website, you hereby consent to our privacy policy and agree to its terms.

UpdateThis Privacy Policy was last updated on: Tuesday, June 21st, 2016.
Should we update, amend or make any changes to our privacy policy, those changes will be posted here.